Verdun MNA Gautrin retiring on his own terms
STAR CANDIDATE TO RUN IN HIS RIDING
Denies he was pushed out for predicting a PQ majority in a recent interview
Despite reports he was pushed out of the Quebec Liberal caucus, Verdun MNA Henri-François Gautrin said Friday he’s leaving politics on his own terms.
This month, Gautrin granted an interview to The Canadian Press in which he predicted a Parti Québécois majority win in the next election. The statement prompted concerns Gautrin would be booted from the party.
But the long-serving MNA told reporters Friday he’d been considering retirement for some time.
“I’ve been serving the people of Verdun for 25 years, I’m 70 years old, I don’t have so many years left,” he said. “Also, I don’t exactly represent new energy for the party. It’s time for renewal. I’ve been a Liberal for 40 years and I’m still a Liberal.”
Gautrin said he’s confident Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard can win the next provincial election — rumoured to be some time in early April. As for reports of tension between Gautrin and party brass, he dismissed them as media speculation.
Couillard denied claims Friday that he pressured Gautrin into retirement.
“Well, (Gautrin is) 70 years old,” Couillard said. “He has decided to end his political career.”
On Thursday, Liberal sources told The Gazette Gautrin was on the verge of being forced off the next provincial ballot. The Liberals were probably planning to run star candidate Jacques D’Aoust in the southwest Montreal riding long before Gautrin predicted a majority PQ victory.
D’Aoust is the former president of Investissement Québec and lives on Nuns’ Island in the Verdun riding. Gautrin said he’ll help the new candidate get acclimated to provincial politics during the coming campaign.
“I’ll do everything I can to make sure we win and maintain this riding,” he said.
A former Université de Montréal mathematics professor, Gautrin, a native of France, was first elected to public office in 1989. He won seven consecutive elections in the Verdun riding and served on nearly two dozen parliamentary committees.
In 2012, Gautrin spearheaded a task force to create a central website where government data would be accessible to the public. Open data activists lauded the project as a good first step to stemming political corruption. It came after years of complaints that the Quebec government was too secretive in sharing information with the public.
“Leaving (politics), it pulls at my heart strings a little bit,” Gautrin said. “Every time you leave something, it hurts a bit, but I’m moving on with serenity.”